 "IPL team owners on a rough pitch")
Three months after the hugely successful inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tourney ended in June 2008, US investment bank Lehman Brothers went bust, triggering a global financial crisis. The credit freeze across the world should have given shivers to the organisers of the annual extravaganza.
They didn't read that ball very well. Or, probably didn't want to, as the hype that had been whipped up was difficult to ignore. As billionaire-studded IPL tried to outdo itself year after year, even as the world was slipping into a recession, trouble began showing up. The valuation game, which brought in many investors, was going awry as revenues were not very visible.
One after another, team owners were becoming a subject of investigation for a variety of reasons - often unrelated to their cricketing ventures. Some have been arrested and some are running out of time. Bengaluru team's Vijay Mallya is the latest on the list, with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issuing summons for appearance on March 18. As the next edition of the tourney is scheduled to begin on April 9, Sundaresha Subramanian brings to you IPL's faces and the probes they face:
KK Modi Group
Commissioner of IPL- 2008-10
Modi was at the helm of the league which was going from strength to strength in the first three years. As it went into an expansion mode, trying to add teams, trouble erupted. Modi tweeted ownership details of the new Kochi team, and that turned into a political storm. The IPL's transactions, when it moved to South Africa in 2009, became the subject of an ED probe for alleged foreign exchange violations. There were also questions around the ownership of the Kings XI Punjab team, where his relatives in the Burman family owned a significant stake. Modi moved out of India soon after and has not returned since. Last year, the alleged help he received from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje became the subject of parliamentary debate.
India Cements
Team: Chennai Super Kings, Chennai
Srinivasan's conflict of interest in being chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and owner of CSK was an eyesore since the beginning of the league. The position became untenable after his son-in-law was charged with betting and was banned from cricket for life. Srinivasan's efforts to save the team by making public shareholders of India Cements' owners through a restructuring exercise did not help. In June last year, the very popular team led by M S Dhoni was suspended for two years by a Supreme Court-appointed panel headed by former chief justice R M Lodha.
Movie star
Team: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Kolkata
Received summons from the ED last year. Probe is on into investments made through foreign entities into Knight Rider Sports, holding company of KKR, and other offshore dealings. The agency recorded his statements on the alleged FEMA violations in November. A final notice is due.
UB Group
Team: Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Mallya faces legal proceedings and is a subject of probes by various central agencies for his companies default on loans of Rs 9,000 crore and other irregularities. A consortium of banks has moved court for seizure of his passport. Many of them have named him a wilful defaulter. Mallya left the country on March 2, but has insisted that he is not an absconder.
Deccan Chronicle
Team: Deccan Chargers, Hyderabad
Four years ago, in a swift collapse that lasted just weeks, Deccan Chronicle went from a five-decade respected media group in the South to a sinking ship. The holding company ran up huge debt and all owners' shares were pledged with lenders. The team has since been scrapped. Reddy himself was arrested in February 2015 for alleged loan fraud and got bail two months later. The media business, thriving before the IPL venture, is staring at a takeover by competition at best or a shutdown at worst. Recent reports suggested the Kolkata-based Srei group was in talks to buy whatever is left of Deccan Chronicle.
Sun Group
Team: Sunrisers Hyderabad
Became franchisee of the Hyderabad team after the exit of Deccan. In January, Maran, wife Kaveri and brother Dayanidhi Maran were charged by the ED for alleged money-laundering in the Aircel-Maxis controversy that has been under probe for some years. A trial court has summoned them in July. His controversial sale of stake in SpiceJet, which had led to calls for investigation, has now landed in court.
DLF
Title sponsors 2008-2012
A controversy involving land deals with Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, came at a time when the real estate business was struggling to get out of the rut. In 2014, Sebi banned the company and key executives, including Singh, from accessing the capital market. Though there was some partial relief from SAT, the matter has gone to the Supreme Court.
Sahara India Parivar
Team: Pune Warriors, Pune
The Lucknow-based Sahara group led by Subrata Roy, also the erstwhile sponsor of the Indian cricket team, was involved in a protracted legal battle with market regulator Sebi. Roy is lodged in the Capital's Tihar jail for the past two years for non-compliance of the Supreme Court's orders to repay over Rs 24,029 crore raised from small investors. The franchisee was terminated by IPL in 2013.
GMR group
Team: Delhi Daredevils, Delhi
Search operations were conducted at the company's Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi offices by the investigation wing of the Income Tax Department in 2012. The group's business model in Delhi International Airport has been questioned by the Comptroller and Auditor General. NGO Rashtriya Mukti Morcha has sought the Delhi High Court's direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a case against officials of the Airports Authority of India and the GMR-led Delhi International Airport in leasing of 5,000 acres of prime land to private companies. GMR sought dismissal of the case in February.
Movie star
Team: Kings XI Punjab, Chandigarh
In March 2013, Zinta appeared before the ED and her statement was recorded for about 10 hours, PTI had reported, quoting an unnamed ED official. A penalty notice was issued by ED for alleged forex violations.
Socialite
Team: Kochi Tuskers, Kochi
Pushkar's five per cent sweat equity in the Kochi team became a huge political controversy after Lalit Modi tweeted about it. She was then just a "close friend" of Shashi Tharoor, then minister of state for external affairs. The revelation cost Tharoor, who was actively tweeting and promoting the team's race for the franchise, his job. Pushkar eventually gave up her sweat equity and married Tharoor. She was found mysteriously dead in a hotel suite in January 2014. "I took upon myself the crimes of this man during IPL. I will not allow this to be done to me. I just can't tolerate this. I have nothing more to say," she had told The Economic Times days before her death. The cause of her death is under investigation.
Movie star Shilpa Shetty's businessman husband
Team: Rajasthan Royals, Jaipur
Three of its players were accused of spot-fixing and arrested by Delhi Police in 2013. Kundra himself was found guilty of betting and banned from cricket for life. The team was suspended for two years in 2015.
They didn't read that ball very well. Or, probably didn't want to, as the hype that had been whipped up was difficult to ignore. As billionaire-studded IPL tried to outdo itself year after year, even as the world was slipping into a recession, trouble began showing up. The valuation game, which brought in many investors, was going awry as revenues were not very visible.
Read more from our special coverage on "IPL"
One after another, team owners were becoming a subject of investigation for a variety of reasons - often unrelated to their cricketing ventures. Some have been arrested and some are running out of time. Bengaluru team's Vijay Mallya is the latest on the list, with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issuing summons for appearance on March 18. As the next edition of the tourney is scheduled to begin on April 9, Sundaresha Subramanian brings to you IPL's faces and the probes they face:
KK Modi Group
Commissioner of IPL- 2008-10
Modi was at the helm of the league which was going from strength to strength in the first three years. As it went into an expansion mode, trying to add teams, trouble erupted. Modi tweeted ownership details of the new Kochi team, and that turned into a political storm. The IPL's transactions, when it moved to South Africa in 2009, became the subject of an ED probe for alleged foreign exchange violations. There were also questions around the ownership of the Kings XI Punjab team, where his relatives in the Burman family owned a significant stake. Modi moved out of India soon after and has not returned since. Last year, the alleged help he received from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje became the subject of parliamentary debate.
India Cements
Team: Chennai Super Kings, Chennai
Srinivasan's conflict of interest in being chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and owner of CSK was an eyesore since the beginning of the league. The position became untenable after his son-in-law was charged with betting and was banned from cricket for life. Srinivasan's efforts to save the team by making public shareholders of India Cements' owners through a restructuring exercise did not help. In June last year, the very popular team led by M S Dhoni was suspended for two years by a Supreme Court-appointed panel headed by former chief justice R M Lodha.
Movie star
Team: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Kolkata
Received summons from the ED last year. Probe is on into investments made through foreign entities into Knight Rider Sports, holding company of KKR, and other offshore dealings. The agency recorded his statements on the alleged FEMA violations in November. A final notice is due.
UB Group
Team: Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Mallya faces legal proceedings and is a subject of probes by various central agencies for his companies default on loans of Rs 9,000 crore and other irregularities. A consortium of banks has moved court for seizure of his passport. Many of them have named him a wilful defaulter. Mallya left the country on March 2, but has insisted that he is not an absconder.
Deccan Chronicle
Team: Deccan Chargers, Hyderabad
Four years ago, in a swift collapse that lasted just weeks, Deccan Chronicle went from a five-decade respected media group in the South to a sinking ship. The holding company ran up huge debt and all owners' shares were pledged with lenders. The team has since been scrapped. Reddy himself was arrested in February 2015 for alleged loan fraud and got bail two months later. The media business, thriving before the IPL venture, is staring at a takeover by competition at best or a shutdown at worst. Recent reports suggested the Kolkata-based Srei group was in talks to buy whatever is left of Deccan Chronicle.
Sun Group
Team: Sunrisers Hyderabad
Became franchisee of the Hyderabad team after the exit of Deccan. In January, Maran, wife Kaveri and brother Dayanidhi Maran were charged by the ED for alleged money-laundering in the Aircel-Maxis controversy that has been under probe for some years. A trial court has summoned them in July. His controversial sale of stake in SpiceJet, which had led to calls for investigation, has now landed in court.
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K P Singh
DLF
Title sponsors 2008-2012
A controversy involving land deals with Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, came at a time when the real estate business was struggling to get out of the rut. In 2014, Sebi banned the company and key executives, including Singh, from accessing the capital market. Though there was some partial relief from SAT, the matter has gone to the Supreme Court.
Subrata Roy
Sahara India Parivar
Team: Pune Warriors, Pune
The Lucknow-based Sahara group led by Subrata Roy, also the erstwhile sponsor of the Indian cricket team, was involved in a protracted legal battle with market regulator Sebi. Roy is lodged in the Capital's Tihar jail for the past two years for non-compliance of the Supreme Court's orders to repay over Rs 24,029 crore raised from small investors. The franchisee was terminated by IPL in 2013.
GMR group
Team: Delhi Daredevils, Delhi
Search operations were conducted at the company's Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi offices by the investigation wing of the Income Tax Department in 2012. The group's business model in Delhi International Airport has been questioned by the Comptroller and Auditor General. NGO Rashtriya Mukti Morcha has sought the Delhi High Court's direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a case against officials of the Airports Authority of India and the GMR-led Delhi International Airport in leasing of 5,000 acres of prime land to private companies. GMR sought dismissal of the case in February.
Movie star
Team: Kings XI Punjab, Chandigarh
In March 2013, Zinta appeared before the ED and her statement was recorded for about 10 hours, PTI had reported, quoting an unnamed ED official. A penalty notice was issued by ED for alleged forex violations.
Sunanda Pushkar
Socialite
Team: Kochi Tuskers, Kochi
Pushkar's five per cent sweat equity in the Kochi team became a huge political controversy after Lalit Modi tweeted about it. She was then just a "close friend" of Shashi Tharoor, then minister of state for external affairs. The revelation cost Tharoor, who was actively tweeting and promoting the team's race for the franchise, his job. Pushkar eventually gave up her sweat equity and married Tharoor. She was found mysteriously dead in a hotel suite in January 2014. "I took upon myself the crimes of this man during IPL. I will not allow this to be done to me. I just can't tolerate this. I have nothing more to say," she had told The Economic Times days before her death. The cause of her death is under investigation.
Movie star Shilpa Shetty's businessman husband
Team: Rajasthan Royals, Jaipur
Three of its players were accused of spot-fixing and arrested by Delhi Police in 2013. Kundra himself was found guilty of betting and banned from cricket for life. The team was suspended for two years in 2015.